Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Love/Hate Facebook

I am deleting my facebook account. My reasons for this are mine. Only you know what is best for you. For me it is deleting my account.
My number one reason is that my time can be better spent. Sure I could simply reduce the amount of time I am online, but I am an all or nothing kind of gal.
When I am online I only half listen to my children talking to me and rarely make eye contact. I ask them to wait for this or that while I "finish what I am doing" (reading updates). I check fb on my phone when we are at the park, zoo or swim lessons. I am constantly sending the signal what I am doing on my computer is more important than my family. I have burned dinner, been late, let the children stay up too late, skipped their baths etc... all because I am on fb. (hard to admit)
I know that when my first daughter was born 14 years ago, and I was battling post-partum, something like facebook would have been a godsend. The truth for now is I need to prioritize. It is going to be hard- I love fb, the escapism, showing off my children and sharing our latest adventures. I hope I can do it!
I will keep blogging but will no longer have the Coedith fb page.

16 comments:

As much as I hate to see you go, I understand where you are coming from. I may follow your example, as well. I find myself checking updates in the grocery store line! I, too, have knowingly neglected my children to finish a FB "discussion". And I always feel guilty. Good for you for "cutting the cord" and deleting! But don't stop blogging, ok?! ;)

You made a great choice. It is hard to turn it off. We often have Facebook free weekends. I know that I have given up story time with my children to check out someone's latest pics or sayings. Again I say "Good Choice"!

I got rid of my facebook back in March. It was sucking out my soul! I had to check that stupid thing so many times a day to see what pointless things people I never met were doing. I figure if someone really wants to know what's up with me, they can just check my blog out!

Thanks for the encouragement. Mary I love the quote "sucking out my soul" so true.Jen I wish I had the self discipline to have FB free days. I would cheat!EverFive-blogging is whole different thing so I have no plans to quit. Let me know if you go off fb because I'm curious.

You are bold! Yes I am tortured by facebook too! The only reason I keep it around is I have a very large family and feel more in touch with them than I have in years, but the flip side is that I too ignore my kids and waste time. I don't have a data phone because I know if I did I'd be checking my durn fb all the time! I try to set limits too, but it is so hard. Thank you for sharing! You've given me something to think about while I am away for a few days (from all technology, lol...I plan all family vacations to be away from it!)

It is hard to admit that you have done those things. I have put Liam to bed early, given him an entire cookie, let him wreck the kitchen and let him toss his entire laundry pile onto the floor just so I could do something online (not always FB). I did make the rule that Dan and I can only play online games once Liam is asleep, or only when the other person is NOT playing them so that there is a non-distracted person to watch him. But it is hard. It is really hard. At some point I may be in the same boat and need to delete mine. Or I may need to stop playing the game that I play. Right now it is easy enough to play it only when he is asleep, but I FB throughout the day... it is hard to find the balance between children and self, and FB can make a person unintentionally selfish... I am bad about that myself. I have caught myself sighing in annoyance when Liam demands my attention and I am writing to my blog, or checking FB. That doesn't work for me... I am working on that in my own life. I will miss seeing your pictures of the girls, but we will just have to spend more time together so I can see them in person!

I decided to take the summer off Facebook to dedicate more energies toward fantastic summer outings and memories. It worked really well until my husband would leave his account signed in when he left for work. I would check and obsess about the Facebook life all my old friends portrayed. So dumb and negative for me. I have gotten really good at signing off the account so I can't be tempted - many more library trips, zoo trips, and outings to the pool have ensued. I told my friends and family I'd be back in September but I don't think that's gonna happen.

I hate FB, I rarely use it, I think this is because until last weekend when I closed my business I was self employed, so all time 'wasted' on FB was me wasting my working time, or my free time which wasn't very much! I just find it sucks my time - if you are a Harry Potter fan I often think of the Dementors when I think of FB, it sucks away time and life!

Well done, I know there are advantages to FB but there are a HUGE amount of disadvantages. I also think about being on the computer too, much, my husband & I are too much, when I was without my laptop for a couple of weeks earlier this year I got sooooo much more done!

Inspired by you, I gave up FB for 24 hours and I really didn't miss it. I was surprised how many times throughout the day I thought about checking it though.

I also wanted to say that even though FB is very consuming, it feels like as a mom it's always something. When I'm doing the dishes, the laundry, blow-drying my hair, preparing food, etc. the kids always need me. I am often "putting them off" while I finish a task. Obviously, these tasks are necessary and more beneficial to our family but it's not like without FB you would spend hours playing on the floor with your children.

As a stay-at-home-mom, I love feeling the connection to the outside world without ever leaving my home (which is often difficult right now). However, you have encouraged me to cut back my frequent use. And I know that real-life relationships are very important to you.

I don't blame you.I spend mst my day on FB when not at work.I am adicted to the games.lol.But I am also about to delete my account cuz it's sucked the life out of me and also I am bored with it.I think I blog more than FB.x

About Me

Sharing our life as we live it in our little pink house. It's all here; family, vintage, Jesus, homeschooling- well everything but the kitchen sink-and some days maybe that too.
I have been married 18 years to a guy I still love and we have four daughters, ages 3,7,9 and 15